'Two-Stroke' writes me to say: "Following on from the Biglorryblog post on the Cargo-cabbed Ashok Leyland 6x6 in Africa. There was some interesting 4x4 solutions displayed on Ford Chassis at the recent Hospice of St Francis steam rally."
"In the forestry section next to the Latil (that Ron featured) was a 4x4 Thames Trader. Is it safe to assume this was County conversion? As Ford was not a big player in 4x4, compared to Bedford who had the military business." Well interesting questions TS. It could well have been, as you suggest, a County conversion. But equally active in the all-wheel drive conversion market was Newton Abbott Motor (NAM), United Services Garage (USG) the big Bedford dealer in Portsmouth and Reynolds Boughton to name but a few... Now click through here for more weird all-wheel-drive wonders!
TS continues: "There was also a Ford-based DOE 130 on display - which had everyone scratching there head on how this 1966 combination worked. AWD looks to be achieved by having two Ford 5000 drive heads. Apparently they met the need for more traction and more torque. Driving it must have been a 'harrowing' experience!
"It seems, " says TS, "that they met a need until the high HP 4x4 tractor hit the streets in the late 1960s Ford at this time going back to County. I used to have a little interest in farm machinery - but I could not combine this with my major interest in trucks so I must be an ex tractor fan!"
I know TS, you just ploughed your own furrow...
This Trader does not look like one of the AWD of Camberley 4x4 or 6x6 conversions, which had the headlights remounted in the bumper and the standard Trader headlights blanked off. I would guess that the photograph is of a Thames E2, 3 or 4 military truck which would originally have had a BLSP 'Commer' cab which has been replaced with a Trader cab probably as the original had rusted. The V8 petrol engine has almost certainly been replaced with something less thirsty.
Ford UK were definitely not strangers to 4x4 trucks having built about 30 000 WOT-6 3 tonners during WW2. A very similar equivalent to the Bedford QL.